


3am Pocky

by Twyd



Series: 3am Pocky [1]
Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Canon Related, Complete, Crushes, Fluff, Grocery Shopping, Insomnia, Late Night Conversations, Late at Night, M/M, Missing Scene, Possibly Unrequited Love, Secret Crush, Slash, Unrequited Crush, Watching Someone Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-14 23:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14146947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twyd/pseuds/Twyd
Summary: Late one night, unable to sleep, Izaya does a spot of midnight shopping. And who should he run into in the confectionery aisle?(There is a note in the Wikia - or somewhere - that Izaya has seen Shizuo sleeping...)





	3am Pocky

 

Izaya’s profession requires odd hours of him. He’s not working that night, but his body clock has apparently not got the memo: It’s almost 1am, and he’s wide awake.

He floats around, wondering what to do with this new found time.  Filing, except Namie has done it all, and he doesn’t want to damage her system. Cleaning, but he is a clean-as-he-goes kind of man, so there isn’t much to do. Shopping. He does keep meaning to eat out less. Maybe actually learn how to cook something worth sharing with others. So, he goes to the 24 hour grocery store.

It feels strange being there so late at night, like a game rather than real life. He eyes his fellow shoppers with interest, but they are disappointingly ordinary: overworked office slaves, bar staff, other insomniacs like himself. 

He ghosts around the store, picking out mushrooms, broccoli, rice, stock for soup, noodles. He sees someone else’s Pocky in a passing glance at their basket, and is seized with an almost painful desire for some himself.

Breezing to the other end of the store, he slows as he finds the right aisle, side stepping along as he eyes the different sweets. The store is clearly due a delivery: some sections are completely cleared. He hopes there are some original flavours left, and that he won’t have to settle for something too sweet and ridiculous, like strawberry. 

He smiles: there is one pack of Pocky left. He reaches out, just as someone else also reaches out in the periphery of his vision.

The stranger draws back at the same time, as their hands brush and their eyes meet.

“Shizu-chan!”

Izaya bursts out laughing. Another passing late night shopper gives him a nervous glance. 

“Fancy that.”

“Izaya-kun,” Shizuo growls, apparently too tired or too focussed on Pocky to get really mad. He looks exhausted but resigned, as if he's also used to keeping odd hours. 

“You can have it,” Izaya says generously, gesturing to the Pocky.

“No.”

“Why not? I barely touched it. It won’t give you cooties.”

Shizuo growls again, as if disgruntled at wanting something Izaya also wants, but throws the Pocky into his basket anyway, where it falls between a tub of ice cream and a carton of chocolate milk. Izaya raises his eyebrows.

“Having a girly night in?”

“Leave me alone.”

Shizuo mooches off, but Izaya’s not about to let him go: running into him here late at night feels like running into a neighbour in a foreign country. Izaya dogs after him.

“What are you doing here?” he asks. “You’re in Shinjuku, in case you haven’t noticed. You can’t exactly get mad about running into me.”

“In a massive district, at 2am in the sweets aisle?” Shizuo shakes his head. “I’m not mad at you, but I’m not exactly fucking happy about it.” He is searching for something amongst the shelves. “Tom and I were working around here. We just finished up.”

“And now you have a sugar craving.”

“Shut up.”

“You shouldn’t be so rude. I let you have the Pocky, didn’t I?”

“You can have the damn Pocky if it’ll make you leave me alone.”

He ignores this, watching Shizuo scan the shelves.

“What are you looking for?”

“Honey.”

“It’s one aisle back the way we came.” He pauses. “I’ve forgotten what else  _ I _ needed.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

Shizuo gets his honey, and Izaya follows him to the check out machines in silence.

“Cheer up,” he says to Shizuo, who is still frowning. “At least you got your Pocky.”

“Whatever. I’m not coming to this store again.”

Izaya says nothing.

Shizuo shifts in this silence, as if expecting a rebuke and unsure what to do when none comes. He looks at Izaya warily.

“How are you getting home?” Izaya says, to save them both from the impending awkwardness. “The trains have stopped.”

“ I know. I’ll walk to the corner and get a cab.”

“Are you going to go to sleep or eat ice cream?”

“None of your fucking business.”

“I only ask,” Izaya calls after him. “Because if you want, you can stay at my place and share your Pocky with me. You look like the walking dead.”

Shizuo turns back slowly.

“Why would you do that? Why would I want to do that?”

Izaya shrugs and waits, taking his time with his own bags.

Shizuo shakes his head and digs into his groceries, taking out the Pocky and throwing it to Izaya.

“Just have it if you want it so badly.”

Izaya catches it in one hand. It is slightly crumpled from Shizuo’s fist.

“It’s going to rain,” Izaya prompts, though he has no idea of the forecast. Shizuo peeks out at the sky, as if this will tell him anything.

“I am so fucking tired.”

“Me too,” Izaya agrees, wide awake. “So come if you’re coming.”

He turns and starts walking home without waiting to see if Shizuo will follow.

After a moment, he hears Shizuo tread after him like a little dog.

-

“Can I keep stuff in your fridge?” Shizuo says, once they’re inside, shoes off, and it;s clear he really is staying after all. 

“Sure,” Izaya says, taking his bag. “How hungry are you? Do you want to make something?”

"I'm not really...can we have some tea? Or hot chocolate?"

"Hot chocolate's fine."

He's tempted to sneak caffeine in it, but decides to be nice and gives Shizuo extra milk instead.

They sip in companionable silence. Izaya doesn’t eat much. He had wanted to shop more than he wanted to eat, except for the Pocky.

After a moment, Izaya opens the packet of Pocky and pushes it between them.

"You should eat more,” Shizuo says, quite randomly.

“I’m eating right now, Shizu-chan. You should keep your temper more.”

Shizuo rolls his eyes. 

“Shinra’s always saying I should bury the hatchet with you,” he mutters, disconsolately breaking off a piece of Pocky. “He’s always saying I’m the one who started it all in the first place.”

“Eh, Shinra’s my friend. He’s biased.”

“I don’t know. I reckon he has a pretty accurate view of both of us.”

“Is that why you’re here?”

“No. I don’t know.” He pauses. “Don’t you ever get sick of it?”

“Of course. It’s completely irrational.”

“You got me fired,” Shizuo says. He takes off his sunglasses and rubs his eyes. "I am so fucking tired."

“You know this is all just insomnia speak, right?” Izaya jokes. “In the morning you’ll wonder what you were thinking.”

“Maybe.”

Izaya helps himself to more Pocky.

“This is nice,” he says. “You’ll have to have me over for Midnight Pocky sometime as well.”

“3am Pocky.”

“Well, it depends what kind of night we’re having, doesn’t it?”

“Why am I here again?”

He looks tired enough to have genuinely forgotten.

“Rain. No trains. Pocky.”

“The kindness of your heart.”

“Yeah.”

No rain comes.

Shizuo’s head starts to droop with his eyes. After a moment, he draws his legs up behind him and sinks down into the couch. 

Izaya stares at him, unmoving, as his breathing evens out. He doesn’t move for some time. It feels impossibly intimate, like he has broken into Shizuo’s home. Izaya puts his mug down in slow motion.

“Shizuo?”

Nothing. His breathing is chesty but deep, steady. Smoker’s breathing. Izaya inches closer and touches Shizuo with two fingers, prepared to leap away at any moment. The other man doesn’t stir, not even when Izaya puts a hand in his hair. The informant swallows, heart beating too hard. His hand moves down Shizuo’s cheek to his mouth, thumbing his lips, testing. No response. 

Izaya takes his hand away, steadying himself.

He waits a moment too long, and suddenly he can’t do it. 

He backs away from Shizuo and the couch, an awful sinking feeling in his stomach. Goes up to bed and tries to tell himself it's relief.

_ That could have gone awfully wrong. _

He tells himself this again in the morning, as he hears Shizuo collect his things and get out. He'd washed both mugs and left Izaya the rest of the Pocky, and neither of them mention it again.


End file.
